Jim Ham's most learned opionion was:
> >
> It's actually much worse that that. If the part includes EEPROM,
> there is a good possibility that the EEPROM will be written. I know
> that it happens with 16F84's and I've been informed by another user
> that it happened on his product that uses 16C84's. It would seem
> some type of brown-out protection is mandatory for those parts with
> EEPROM on board. My product is through-hole, so I'm using the Dallas
> DS1233D. I've seen the Maxim part mentioned on this list several
> times. By the by, on my product the watchdog would not reset the
> part after brownout even though it was enabled. It makes me wonder
> what its for...


How much are you paying for the Dallas DS1233D in real quantities?
I've been really successful with a simple PNP transistor as a
brownout device (ala one of the app notes) which costs about 7 cents
US in real quantities, $0.18 for ten.

There's been a long discussion about what the watchdog is for in the
last few weeks...  Look it up
in the archive
-- Lawrence Lile

Download AutoCad blocks for electrical drafting at:
http://members.sockets.net/~llile/index.htm